Ability to admit that you are wrong when you actually feel you are is definitely an art and unfortunately in a lot of cases, it is one thing that seems to go overlooked. If you have stepped in as a new business leader or a new entrepreneur, then knowing how you are going to admit your mistakes is often a challenge. It also offers you a great opportunity to also learn and grow at the same time.
When you know you can admit your mistakes in the right way and with the most suitable approach, you can be sure that it’s only going to make your organisation and team much stronger. Also, you will see that your employees are gradually becoming stronger and comfortable with the failure.
Admitting that you went wrong with something is actually a sign of strength and not of your weakness. Now, here it should also be added that it really does take a good deal of leadership and character to ensure that it is done well. Not only has this, admitting your mistakes also helped you in setting an important example for other workers in the organisation. It further helps in creating a culture where they can feel free to experiment with different things without bothering much about the failure. It rather opens up doors for a better creative environment and spills instant solutions with people making mistakes.
Here are some of the tips that can help you own your mistakes so that they evolve as strengths of your organisation.
Take ownership
If you are the leader, it is your responsibility to keep a track of all that is going on and around in your company. Hence it is important to actually have the courage to own (or take responsibilities of) the major and the minor problems and solutions within your organisation or related with work. Ensure that you never make an excuse because that’s not a sign of a leader who is believed to have a focus on growth.
Encourage employees within the organisation who are more than willing to take the ownership of their own mistakes. When you show them the respect, you do your best to frame a culture that has a focus on addressing the mistakes without creating much fuss or blame games. Be determined to take responsibilities when none of the things you planned seem to work the way you wanted them to.
Be sincere
When you are in business, particularly the one involved with delivery and strict deadlines, you are mostly advised to be sincere and honest and encourage transparency. Customers are not fond of service providers that prefer keeping them in dark – intentionally or unintentionally.
In order to convince and win over your customers, it is advisable that you be yourself. If you are trying to go by some pre-written script, better stop! It may not have a desirable impact. Be actually who you are as it is an essential trait of an honest leader and is going to show up in your words, approach and the service.
Time to show what you learnt
A good apology on your behalf has the capability to explain all that happened and why. You can choose to start with the idea on why actually you put up a decision along with the logic that actually led you to the choice. You shall then be required to explain what you have learned during the process and why you think it failed to work and what is the new information you have got which can help you to move forward.
Now the true fact is that if you have not really learnt the lesson then we are afraid you are not ready for delivering the apology in the first place. You may want to see whether you have closely figured out those fixes. When you admit your mistakes, you give it a chance and ensure that you do your best to prevent it from reoccurring in future. Now even if you feel that the mistake turned out to be something simple and are not being able to think crucially through the idea it is still time you can improve your thoughts. All these will ensure that it does not happen again.
If you are keen on sharing the lessons you learnt with other workers in the organisation, go for it. When you do it with a brave heart and willing mind, you also help them think about their mistakes and perform accordingly. It goes without saying that this little assistance will help them find out how they should be moving ahead.
Make proactive developments/changes
Talking about things is easy but performing suitably is the real challenge hence people really want to see you outperforming your own services with something better and out of the box. People are also keen on seeing that you actually perform and follow things accordingly. While you are outlining plans, it becomes important to mention at least one step that has been taken to achieve those ends. Here it should be added that the more specific you are, the better it is!
You might start mentioning details about your new project or how you are willing to make communication or may be some new approach that needs to be taken by you in case of a product development. You should be in the position to mention what actually went wrong, if it fails to make a mark and what are the mistakes that can crop up in future and hence needs to be avoided. Have an eye on the mistakes or for that matter, the possibilities of committing mistakes. It’s only then that you will be seen as a strong leader who deserves to be in the position of acquiring strength.
Sign off on high note
It’s not just the beginning that makes a difference but it is also the end that has the ability to make the mark. When you feel it’s time to talk about the mistakes, make sure that you also acknowledge people who you think could have witnessed harm during the entire process. The harm caused may be overt and sometimes it may even be subtle. When people give some project a good enough time and also go on to investing hope, its failure is never pleasant. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure that everything has been brought back to what has been learnt.
All these experiences are going to help you grow as a person and it goes without saying that it’s going to assist you with the pace of your organisation’s progress too. Make sure that you utilise these opportunities in the best possible manner so that you can end with things that reflect scopes of hope in each and every situation.
About the Author: Evans is a content marketer and blogger. He is currently working for a leading UK based organization GasStorageDepot that offers free delivery of its products to UK Mainland.
Photo credit: Kate Sumbler
